A Blog-like Entity

20 nov 06

Can a solo rendition of "Classical Gas" be performed well? or does it take at least 2 guitarists?

well, first of all, i have a pretty good idea who this is, even without confirming it through IP geolocation.

i have this CD, by "the washington guitar quintet", which features the old jazzer charlie byrd, among other people, including some woman named myrna sislen, who, if foggy memory serves, was a guitar teacher at one of the schools the person whom i suspect submitted this question considered attending for guitar! again, it all comes together. oh. nevermind. i always get san diego mixed up with san jose. i'm such a tool. unfortunately, this question requires me to start up limewire and download an instance of "classical gas". from what i read about it, it's likely that i'll recognize it. i have this fear that it's going to be awful -- sort of like a gershwin tune, but worse. i'm listening to it now, and it's a rock and roll song. perhaps a rock and roll song by a progressive band like "yes" or something like that. or maybe a show tune, like something by andrew lloyd weber. i guess i wasn't particularly impressed. i dunno...i guess the original was just played by mason williams and with orchestral accompanyment. i read on wikipedia that it's supposed to be one of the most challenging pieces written for guitar, but i frankly don't see how or why, compared to contrapuntal bach fugues and the like. for a trained classical guitarist, i don't think "classical gas" would be challenging at all, but what do i know? movie music, an instrumental by a prog rock band, or a weber show tune. yep. their website has been usurped by a squatter-portal (don't know if there's a proper name for these types of sites, but that one seems descriptive) damn, i'm doing a lot of research for you. i'm downloading not only the original version by mr. williams, but renditions by eric claption, chet atkins, and mark knopfler. i guess they mean that it's the most challenging piece for non-classical guitarists to perform well. i don't know. i'm not going to devote a month to learning and practicing it, that's for sure, even though i bet i could find the tab online. when i first heard the opening licks, i was reminded of the intro riffs to metallica's "to live is to die" -- y'all headbangers know what i'm talking about. i bet james hetfield wouldn't have any problems playing this. he's not a bad guitarist, despite being james hetfield. if you want to hear it, you can probably find it here. if you want to hear and see it performed, there's no shortage of youtube videos of guitarists giving it a go. are you starting to get a sense for "classical gas"'s cultural location? it's a piece in which one can show off one's technique without challenging the pedestrian pop ear. brilliant. so, to answer your question, no -- the whole spirit of it being a challenging pieces for the hobby guitarist to play comes from it being executed as a solo performance. furthermore, more than one classical guitar sounds crummy to me -- the point of the guitar is sort of that it can serve as its own little orchestra. once you have the music in your hot little hand (mp3 player, rather), then you can have a look at the tab and start playing it. i'm getting the sense that learning to play "classical gas" is some kind of rite of passage for guitarists, something like an advanced "stairway to heaven", for rockers who are starting to take their instrument seriously, or something. anyway, it might very well be difficult to play, but it doesn't sound very impressive. ok, so classical gas is hard to play -- i'm comparing the fingerwork on those youtube vids with some players playing bach and such. but the thing is, the horrible thing is, that it doesn't sound hard to play, because it's such a low-brow tune. it sounds, as i said, like a pop tune, with these offensive rock rhythms. here's a guy on his strat attempting it -- the recording is horrible, but he's just as good as any of the others. youtube is a great place to watch people play the classical guitar (or play pieces on the electric that were intended to be played on classical guitar). two guitars would make it easier to play, certainly, but it wouldn't improve the sound any -- it's not a complex piece, aurally. it's supposed to be played by one. this whole "technical competence on the guitar" issue makes me nervous. guitar, more than any other instrument, i think, lends itself to dick-wagging -- mannish competetive posturing on the instrument. simply avoiding having a big guitar dick jammed in your face is a good reason never to self-identify as a "guitar player".